Donisthorpe Youth Club set to reopen its doors after undergoing major refurbishment

The children had previously had to do activities in cramped conditions

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A youth club which was forced to hold its activities in cramped changing room has today, Monday, October 9, reopened after a major £20,000 refurbishment.

Volunteers who set up the club were offered the unused changing rooms at Donisthorpe Woodlands Centre in the village as a venue to hold meetings when the club was first launched five years ago.

With no other place to call home, volunteers say they were "very fortunate" to be offered the disused changing rooms, despite being surrounded by floor to ceiling wall tiles and exposed plumbing and pipe work, limiting the amount of activities its young people could do at the time.

The young people at the youth club

As more young people joined and the club went from strength to strength, staff and volunteers believed a refurbishment was needed to make the room fit for purpose for the youngsters in Donisthorpe and surrounding areas.

Volunteers applied for funding from North West Leicestershire District Council's 'Twenty for Seven Funding', and they were given £4,800 towards refurbishing the old changing rooms.

They then applied to Leicestershire County Council's for one of its Shire Grants and were told they would receive £10,000 - if they could match it through fund-raising.

Volunteers have described the refurbishment as a huge improvement in terms of utilising space

And the determined volunteers and young people managed to raise around £12,500 through coffee days, galas, Christmas craft fairs and donations from the public.

The restoration work, which took around two months to complete, saw all the toilets, showers and walls within the changing rooms knocked down to make more space for activities.

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There are other facilities within the community centre for youngsters to use so they were not missed.

Volunteers say the room, which they have filled with items such as a pool and football table, will allow them to expand on what they have to offer.

The kitchen had to be built in old showers

Secretary at the club Kay Eley, who managed the refurbishment project with fellow volunteer Ade Evans, said it was hard to describe what the changing rooms looked like before the restoration.

She said: "I just think it's something to be proud of for them. It's not just for the ones that are current, it's going to be for those young people that are coming back in years to come so it’s something they can really be proud of.

"We feel like we've really achieved something. It's been a long, hard task to get to where we have.

Even the kitchen has had a revamp

"We've kept it a secret and we want them to be surprised when they come back and see it. It's going to mean so much to them. We want them to feel like they have somewhere safe to hang out with their friends, because that's what a lot of them want to do."

Volunteers say the conditions were cramped

The volunteers hope that the refurbishment will allow them to hold activities twice a week instead of once. The official opening took place today on Monday, October 9, at 3pm.